captainsidd on Nostr: A self-custodied stack of bitcoin does NOT make you free. It's barely a start. So ...

A self-custodied stack of bitcoin does NOT make you free.

It's barely a start.

So what is freedom?

First, a few questions:

When you see a headline about the a 3 letter agency doing something horrible according to 'sources' - do you click?

When someone tweets a mean thing at you - does your heart rate rise?

Do you need anything to feel empowered and ready to take on the day?

If you answered yes to any of these, you are not free.

And when those with far more power than you decide to take your freedoms, you will beg, bow, and bend the knee to get stability and comfort back.

That stack will disappear in an instant, traded away for peace of mind.

Self-custodied bitcoin is a useful tool, but it's also employed as a crutch by many #Bitcoin-ers to avoid the much harder work of building freedom in your mind.

Freedom from worry, fear, anxiety, stress, anger - this freedom cannot be bought. It must be earned.

Earned through extreme discomfort, through frank conversations, through taking leaps, through quiet reflection.

Only alongside freedom of mind can the freedom gained through a stack of sats truly be utilized.

This goes much deeper than ignoring the MSM and not trusting anything. That can be just as much coping as only trusting the MSM narrative.

Freedom of mind entails finding out who you really are, and how to work with your emotions and desires every day.

Everything in life: every problem, every solution, every failure and every success is mental.

Everything you see around you was created by a mind, and started with an idea.

Your own freedom is no different.

So how do can you cultivate freedom of the mind?

Here is what has continued to work for me in the endless battle of cultivating and maintaining freedom of mind.

1. Regular (diverse) challenges
2. Meditation and mindfulness
3. Travel (not tourism)

Challenges show you who you really are by pushing out the crap and testing you. You forget everything else as you push towards one goal.

But challenges need to remain challenging.

This means they need to surprise you, all the time. If a marathon is your "challenge" - after you run 5 of them, it's no longer a challenge. You know what to expect, you're adapted to it mentally. Find something else.

This is why I don't talk about the itinerary before a Ride of Passage. If you know what you're going to do, it's far less stimulating for personal growth.

Meditation and mindfulness is a cheat code. It is not woo-woo fantasy stuff, it cuts right to the heart of how our minds operate.

One way I've found helpful to get in to mindfulness is by practicing focus. Riding a motorcycle gets me there instantly, because the fear of screwing up and breaking a leg forces me to focus on the road ahead, the feeling of the controls, my weight on the pegs.

Yet sitting and meditating is still important. The mindfulness cultivated there allows you to step back and observe your mind, learn its patterns, and develop more deliberate responses to thoughts, emotions, and external triggers.

Travel (not tourism) is the final, most fun way I've found to develop freedom of mind.

Traveling puts you in contact with people, cultures, and societies that operate completely differently from you. What are usually normal, unconscious interactions (ordering food, taking the train, walking down the street) incredibly stimulating and often thought provoking.

Just as meditation offers you a glimpse at how your mind works, travel offers a glimpse at how the environment around you shapes your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

However, most people with a passport full of stamps have never TRAVELED. They are simply tourists, using a vast network of tourist services to largely avoid these often uncomfortable experiences clashing with other cultures. Don't be a tourist - go travel and open yourself up to the world.

This will set you free, as it has for me.

Good luck 😉